"AAAAAH!! Indie Horror Hits - Volume 1"... and how you can get in Volume 2

I've mentioned Aaaaah!! Indie Horror Hits before... but, to refresh your memory, their plan was to take a bunch of horror shorts and put them together on a DVD to give them a life after the festival circuit. In the meantime, the filmmakers of those shorts would keep 100% ownership of their film, there's no up-front fees or anything and you get to split profits with Aaaaah!!. Let me just tell you this, the more and more we talk to people in the industry, the more and more we know that there's lots of sharks out there that are going to try to rip you off. From my conversations with Miguel Gallego, the guy behind Aaaaah!! and The Crypt Club, I can tell you... he's not one of those guys. He's really in it to help filmmakers out. That's why I'm happy to let you know that "Aaaaah!! Indie Horror Hits - Volume 1" is just about ready and that you should really check it out! Here's some info from their press release...

"ALL KILLER – NO FILLER” This is the good stuff. The short horror films that caused a buzz on the festival circuit - then vanished. If you saw them the first time you know what we mean. If you didn’t, you can enjoy them now - for the first time.

From a dark, cautionary tale (The Crypt Club - with Alison Pill from Pieces of April) to gallows humour on the job (Ghost Busted); from the grotesque otherworld of H.P. Lovecraft (The Veil) to today’s outbreak fears (The Ninth Entry); from the stylishly bizarre (My Skin! – with Tony Simmons from Human No More & Carnie) and the chillingly macabre (Oculus) to the dire family survival drama (Old Friends - from Kevin Greutert, editor of the SAW films).

We've resurrected these great short indie horror films. Turn down the lights and dig in for your own private horror film festival.

The DVD will be available in September, but they're holding the DVD's Worldwide debut at the Crypt Club Productions booth at the Rue Morgue Festival of Fear in Toronto, August 22-24. Drop by and pick up a copy! Otherwise, you can go to the Crypt Club Productions site here or go directly to the Aaaaah!! Indie Horror Hits site here... if you're interested in submitting your short film for the Volume 2, click here.

2 minutes and 46 Seconds of Terror from FEWDIO

You guys may remember the interview we posted a few weeks back on FEWDIO, the group that's making all the awesome horror shorts. Here's a link to the post, if you didn't check it out. Well, FEWDIO is BACK with a new short, called "Bedfellows" and you can check out the 2 minutes and 46 seconds of terror here or just scroll to the bottom and push play.

Also, we should mention that their site is now up and running, find it here... and, for the count, that's three shorts that they've put out there. A personal favorite, "The Easter Bunny is Eating My Candy", "Creep" and now this...

Just a side note. I was talking with Drew Daywalt, one of the members of FEWDIO, about the interview that we did with them. Unfortunately, he wasn't there, but he listened to the whole damned thing and had a thought come to mind. I've decided to post it here, as it's something that I think all indie horror filmmakers should hear, if only because it's somewhat inspirational. "It's always been said that "writers write." And that could never be said about directors, because the palette to direct was so damned expensive and complicated... until now, with the amazing new access to low cost film capabilities. So, to the writers, I say, "Writers write." And to the directors, I say, "Directors direct."

Spot on Drew... and I can't wait to see what FEWDIO comes up with next!

The Horror Vault and what to do with that short horror film...

I usually do the Linkapalooza at this point, but I gotta say... there's not much going on that interests me. Like... Platinum Dunes has been hired by Universal and Hasbro to make a movie based on Ouija. (Michael Bay conjures "Ouija" movie - Hollywood Reporter) Seriously, I can't even bring myself to comment on that. So, instead, I've decided to talk about short horror films...

So, I'm wondering about this "Fear Itself" 'horror anthology' that NBC is going to start airing on Thursday, June 5th. (1) Just how gory/scary/violent are you going to get on network TV? (2) Why did you put the premiere on against game 1 of the NBA finals? (3) Why did you play it safe with the guest directors? I mean, I kinda get having John Landis (An American Werewolf in London), but Breck Eisner? (Sahara). Don't get me wrong, I'll check it out, but... let's just say I'm not smelling what they're stepping in here. However, that's not to say that I have anything against horror films that are less than feature length... in fact, I think there may be a big market for them soon.

We were sent a pile of horror shorts (we're almost through all of them) and I have to say, they kick ass... first off, I'm way more tolerable of any negative aspects when I know the film is only 15 minutes long. Secondly, there's just something about the fact you don't need to commit 90 minutes to watching them. You got a few minutes? Plop a short film in. There's no question that due to the short formats on Youtube and other broadband video sites, young and future audiences will be accustomed to, and will consume media in short formats. Now, I think there's two genres that are very effective in short format. One, obvioulsy, is comedy, which has exploded all over the place and the other is horror, which is in its infancy. Comedy can be anything from two idiots lighting themselves on fire, posted on Youtube, to Will Farrell's "The Landlord", but horror is slightly different... It doesn't really lend itself to just being thrown out there. So, currently, the problem lays in the fact that, outside of entering festivals, there's not much that an indie-horror, short filmmaker can do... but that could be changing, as there's a few groups out there that are coming out with DVD's that are collections of horror shorts. Here's three examples that are slightly different from each other, but could either give you an option or an idea... "Aaaaah!! Indie Horror Hits" actually takes submissions from indie-filmmakers, then puts out compilations and shares the profits, "New York City Horror Film Festival" puts out a DVD with all the horror shorts from the festival on it and, finally, "The Horror Vault" is a group of filmmakers that went out and made their own anthology.

Let's take a closer look at "The Horror Vault" because I love the idea of a group of filmmakers getting together to make an anthology of short films. If you're an indie-horror filmmakers, what can you take away from this idea? Well, if you're just one guy and you don't have the resources to make a feature, why don't you group together with a few other, like-minded people and make something like this? Basically, there's more strength in numbers, which, in this case, means there's a better chance of distribution when you have more minutes of film. That's exactly what these guys did, and what they came up with is awesome... I love the concept, I love the product, it's a great idea.

Here's some more information on the short films that make up "The Horror Vault":

"When John Met Julia" is a modern twist on Romeo and Juliet, except everything goes a bit wrong...for poor John anyway. Written and directed by Kim Sønderholm

"Delusion" is a black/white 50ies style of horror drama, directed by Mark Machillo.

"Alone" is a story about being all alone in a sorority house on a dark night. Written and directed by Kenny Selko.

"Mental Distortion" is a story about Pete, waking on on his floor, about to do a gruesome find. Directed by Kim Sønderholm.

"Dead To The World" has english actor and director Russ Diaper take a stab at the Ted Bundy legend from a new perspective.

"Disconnected" directed by David Boone and Josh Card is a black and white little threat of the absurd - dark humor and crude and explicit torture mixed in one.

"Echoes" by Gabriel Dowrick, the australian addition about a man, waking up, tied to a bed in what seems to be a nursing home, knowing little of what is going on.

"The Demon" by Thomas Steen Soerensen is the story about a man chased by his own ghosts and desires, which is about to explode as he picks up a young pretty woman hitchhiking at the side of the road, coming seemingly from nowhere. Or is she?

Finally, "Retina" by JP Wenner, is a black and white and extremely absurd and nihilistic story about... well - you're the audience - you decide! :-)

You can get more info about the film, watch the trailer and find out more about the filmmakers on their site here and you can order the film off Amazon here. By the way, the Horror Vault 2 is already in the works and will be released on December 1, 2008.

Forget that feature, make a short. Reason #1 - Alex Masterton's "Mr. Video"

Now, keep in mind, I don't intend this next statement to be taken as an insult, it's not. It's just a simple fact... most indie horror filmmakers are on the outside of Hollywood, looking in. Not even looking in, must of us are in the parking lot, looking at the people who are on the outside, looking in.... picking up pop cans, trying to raise enough money to buy some DV tapes. There's very few people who made it in the business, then decided to give it up to make 'creepy for cheapy' movies out of pocket. Most indie horror filmmakers are plugging away, any way they can, not even really trying to make a living making their films. In most cases, they're just trying to make an audience... and build some cred while they're at it. Then, one day, hopefully, they'll get their break... somewhere, somehow. I think it's widely known that one of the best routes to take is by entering film festivals. If you can manage to screen at one, let alone win something, you're on your way to some recognition, which won't fill up your gas tank, but it will fill up that ego and get you some contacts. A lot of film makers instantly want to go the way of the feature, but that's not always the best thing to do... a feature is at least 90 minutes long and they can only screen so many of them at any given festival. However, they can cram a lot of shorts into one night of screenings. On top of that, shorts don't usually take as long, or cost as much to make. Let's take a look at Alex Masterton's 15 minute short, "Mr. Video", a film that recently came to my attention.

Mr. Video" is about the owner of a small video store who struggles, in vain, to earn a living, as he's competing against DVD piracy, internet downloading and an array of customers who never seem to rent anything. Things soon change when a young man enters the store and pushes the owner to the breaking point... I haven't actually seen it yet, but you can check out the trailer here. The quality looks fantastic. Also, it has to be alright, as it's screened at 12 different festivals, including: Tromadance, Rhode Island Horror Film Fest and the Freak Show Horror Film Festival, to name a few. He's been receiving a lot of press, a lot of exposure and he's winning a few awards on the way.

So, instead of dumping all your money into making that feature, maybe you should think about making a kick-ass short, it could be an easier road to take. ...and I'll tell you what. I'll find out how it's working out for Masterton, as I'm supposed to be talking with him about the film soon.